title: Total quality culture in radiotherapy departments across Ontario.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the prevalence of total quality culture (TQC) within radiation therapy (RT) departments across Ontario, Canada.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective quantitative survey was distributed within RT departments across Ontario, Canada using the Miller Consulting Group Quality Culture survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety percent of managers (9/10) and 50% of employees (261/519) participated. There was concordance between managers and staff that overall RT departments exhibit a work culture that somewhat resembles TQC. Both groups scored 55% of the categories as somewhat agree with TQC and 9% of categories as no TQC. There was discordance in views for 36% of the categories, where managers scored a higher prevalence of TQC compared to their therapists. Larger RT departments (>50 employees) had more prevalence of discrepancy between group scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study to report on the prevalence of TQC within RT departments. Strategies designed for on-going continuous improvement will benefit staff, RT managers, continuity of patient care and patient safety within RT departments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Therapy, University of Toronto, Canada. Gunita.Mitera@sunnybrook.ca
authors.forename: Gunita
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mitera
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Whitton
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gutierrez
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Robson
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009864:Ontario; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D018787:Radiation Oncology / Q000592:standards*; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires